Yael and the Party of the Year

Written by Tamsin Lane

Simon & Schuster Canada

978-1-5011-7613-5

160 pp.

Ages 8-12

2018

Yael Lewis is twelve and the party of the year is her upcoming bat mitzvah. That is, if it isn't railroaded by her mother, her anxiety over her Torah reading and public speaking, and a couple of boys that are turning her head. But that seems the norm for an almost-thirteen-year-old girl, right?

As much as I'd like to tell you more about the plot, I really can't. That's because there is no single plot line in Yael and the Party of the Year. Yael and the Party of the Year, and a second title, Tara Takes the Stage, released last year by Tamsin Lane, are part of a new series called Yes No Maybe So. I can tell you that Yael is preparing for her bat mitzvah, that she is expected to read a portion of the Torah and that there will be a party at which she is expected to give a speech. Those elements are cemented in the story as is the venue for her party, the Maize amusement park, and her friends, Tara, Gemma and Paloma, and three boys, Eli, Cam and Gabriel. After that, it's up to the reader to make decisions for Yael. Will she go to Eli's house to rehearse her reading or to the amusement park for a tour with her parents? Does she encourage Cam to attend synagogue with her family or not or does she feign illness not to go at all? Does she focus on her girl friends or give into her crushes? Who will get that special first dance?

I thought it might be impossible to review a book whose plot is determined by the choices of the reader. But a Yes No Maybe So book is less a choose-your-own-story than seeing that sometimes choices lead to only a few outcomes. Tamsin Lane, the pen name of a Canadian writer whose books I've previously reviewed on CanLit for LittleCanadians, recognizes how little things can become very big things for young people, especially when they are convinced that every decision could make or break their futures. Expecting that any decision could mean the difference between a complete and total disaster, as was Eli's bar mitzvah, and the party of the year is a heavy load for a young person upon whom great hopes are placed. Fortunately, young readers who undertake a reading of this interactive book will recognize soon enough that the outcomes may be different but they aren't always better or worse and that there's sure to be a few laughs along the way. From the epic tantrums of Yael's two-year-old sister Rivka to getting lost in a corn maze, Yael and the Party of the Year makes lightness out of seemingly critical choices. Fortunately Tamsin Lane makes sure that Yael gets a great party in the end, whether she gets kissed or not, or wears the T-shirt her mother chose or her own design, or whether her first dance is a slow one with a boy she likes or the chicken dance.

A Month of Mondays

by Joëlle Anthony
Second Story Press
978-1-77260-026-1
340 pp.
Ages 9-13
March 2017

I was reminded of the Boomtown Rats song "I Don't Like Mondays" when I read the title of Joëlle Anthony's middle grade book and I couldn't even imagine a month full of those oppressive days.  It's just too overwhelming.  Not unlike Suze Tamaki's life.

Suze Tamaki is twelve years old and a Grade 7 student at Maywood Junior High in Victoria, BC.  She lives with her father and her slovenly sister, seventeen-year-old Tracie, in a cramped apartment.  Her Aunt Jenny a.k.a. AJ and Uncle Bill essentially round out her family.  That is, until her mother Caroline who’d abandoned them when Suze was 3 returns to town and wants to reconnect with her daughters.  Everyone has an opinion about that happening, especially Tracie who vehemently refuses to have anything to do with Caroline or allow Suze to do so.

At school, things aren’t any more settled. Suze, who regularly spends time in the office of the principal, Mr. Farbinger, and seems to be quite content to coast through her coursework, is moved into Honours English to work with best friend and super achiever Amanda on a speech presentation.  With the aim of presenting to the school board, the two decide to take up the cause of the custodians who are set to lose their jobs to more cost-efficient contractors.  But even that becomes a fiasco when Suze finds some unorthodox ways to research the custodians’ impact on schools.

Meanwhile, Suze is trying to navigate a potential relationship with a mother who seems to be out of touch with her children, though she has plenty of money to try and make an impact.  The question for Suze is whether any of her hurdles–her schooling, her mother, the rest of her family–are worth the effort necessary to overcome them and lead to some positive resolution.  Unfortunately or not, it’s up to her how she proceeds.  And when life feels like a month of Mondays, it’s hard to get up for any of it.

It’s nice to see a kid who neither has it all together or sits at the bottom of the heap trying to crawl out of the despair of a horrific life. Suze is probably more like most kids, at neither extreme but somewhere in the middle, just trying to make sense of the people and circumstances of her life.  She may not always choose well–her recurrent trips to the principal’s office attest to that–and may get distracted and discouraged but she keeps on plugging away.  Without creating a superhero for the middle grade set, Joëlle Anthony has created a very realistic young teen who’s just trying to find her way.  She may drag a few people along for the ride, and it’s sometimes a bumpy one, but she keeps heading somewhere and in her own time. I guess that’s as real as it gets, isn’t it?  And Joëlle Anthony ensures the reader comes away with a lesson in stick-with-it-ness, demonstrating that things always resolve themselves somehow, sometimes more and sometimes less positively than you might imagine.

Speechless

by Jennifer Mook-Sang

Scholastic Canada

978-1-4431-4267-0

159 pp.

Ages 8-13

September 2015

Jennifer Mook-Sang must have a great sense of humour.  From her characters’ names (Joseph Alton Miles, J.A.M., aka Jelly, and Parker Brown, P.B.–get it? P.B. and Jelly) to the speeches Jelly gives (I won’t give those away!) and Jelly’s clever jabs using art and words to target the self-righteous and downright mean Victoria, Jennifer Mook-Sang finds the means to make speech-writing and bullying into situations that can be handled with humour and aplomb.

Sixth-grader Jelly and all others students in Grades 3 to 6 at Sherwood Forest Public School must participate in speeches but, for the first time, Jelly is eager to compete.  The prize is a tablet computer, something the boy whose TV, computer and video game usage is strictly controlled to virtual non-existence by his parents covets.  But, student council president, resident brainer and high-achieving Victoria won’t even consider someone else winning it, though Jelly is determined “to kick Victoria’s speech’s butt.” (pg. 7)

Sadly, it looks like the stars or karma or the school gods have it in for Jelly who seems to end up in trouble for an assortment of non-malicious actions, including one as a result of helping out at the Food Share Partnership, a local food bank.  And then Jelly gives a great and funny and well-received speech about the redeeming qualities of video games, and Victoria starts to spread a rumour that he copied it from the internet.  This kid just can’t catch a break.  And I haven’t even mentioned how Parker starts acting weird, even believing the rumour; how in trying to help the manager of the food bank with computer issues things become even more complicated; how even after doing well in the competition Jelly has to write another speech and realizes that the “problem was I didn’t have any heart or funny left.” (pg. 129)

But he’s wrong.  Courtesy of Jennifer Mook-Sang’s pen and wit, Jelly has loads of funny left to share.  Take this little gem that starts as an old adage that every child has heard from every coach, teacher and parent:

     It didn’t matter whether I won or lost, I told myself.  It only mattered that I’d done my best and the audience enjoyed it.
      I was such a liar. (pg. 146)

Jelly is honest and refreshing and has a quirky but realistic take on things that I wish I heard from more children.  As a teacher, I think I’d be killing myself laughing every time this kid opened his mouth.  Yet he’s not a distracting or over-the-top class clown.  He does his schoolwork, enjoys writing and has a good heart.  If there’s a way to instill compassion through a read-aloud, I think Speechless could do so.  And still entertain.  And while I wouldn’t want to think of Speechless as a teaching tool, I believe middle-grade teachers could benefit from getting Speechless into their classrooms to introduce students to speech-writing and get some much needed humour into the curriculum.  It’s a nice little package with some important lessons told in such an engaging and amusing way.  Well done, Jennifer Mook-Sang.


  •   •   •   •    •   •   •  

If you’re fortunate to live in southern Ontario, consider attending the book launch of Speechless on October 4 at A Different Drummer Books in Burlington.  And judging by the refreshments, it is sure to be worth a chuckle or two as well.

Speechless: Book Launch (Burlington)

Join author Jennifer Mook-Sang 

and her publisher Scholastic Canada

for the launch of her new book

Speechless

by Jennifer Mook-Sang

Scholastic Canada

978-1-443142670

184 pp.

Ages 9-12

September 1, 2015

on

Sunday, October, 4, 2015

2 p.m.

at

A Different Drummer Books

513 Locust Street

Burlington, Ontario

Here's what Speechless is all about, as described in Scholastic Canada's Fall 2015 Catalogue:

Jelly is as surprised as anyone when he decides that he’s going to win the annual sixth grade speech contest.  

Just like that, Joe Alton Miles, better known as Jelly (because his initials are J.A.M. and his best friend’s are P.B.), is faced with overcoming not only his terror of being in the spotlight, but also the wrath of smart, popular Victoria, who believes that the prize (like all prizes) is rightfully hers. At first, Jelly only cares about winning the awesome prize (a new tablet), but as Victoria escalates her campaign against him, Jelly begins to realize that it’s not only the prize that’s at stake, but also his reputation, his self-respect and the friendship he values most. Jelly must dig deep inside himself to find out if he’s strong enough to stand up to Victoria and show everyone what he’s really capable of. 

Hilariously funny and just as poignant, Speechless is about finding out who your friends are, giving back, standing up to bullying and finding your own unique voice.

What that little blurb doesn't tell you is that Speechless is funny, funny, funny!  It's a perfect read for teachers who want to get some laughter into the classroom.  Hopefully my review will be up tomorrow so you can check it out for yourself and then attend the book launch well-armed for purchase and giggles.

What you'll experience at the book launch is

• a reading by Jennifer Mook-Sang

• a Q & A with Jennifer Mook-Sang

• a book signing and sales too, and

• refreshments (including peanut butter and jelly!)

Switch

by Douglas Davey

Red Deer Press

978-0-88995-524-0

252 pp.

Ages 15+

2014

Back in 1988, when Sheldon Bates was seventeen, a confusing encounter during swimming practice sets him asking big questions about his sexuality. Now, through his personal notes from the time, footnoted with his current thoughts, Sheldon records that tumultuous year of discovery, fear, discomfiture, bullying, and understanding in Switch.

Though dating Jenny, to whom he is wildly attracted, Sheldon conducts a little experiment and some research, hoping to clarify for himself what he is feeling. His wish, "Please, please, please let me not be gay..." (pg. 22), suggests his ensuing stress and incomprehension, not surprising in a time when discussions of sexual orientation were verboten and information limited to a dictionary and a thesaurus. And, if he can't understand it, how will Jenny, best friend Dan or older brother Bill react? Sadly, not as he expects, and his personal issue becomes fodder for school gossip and verbal and physical abuse.

I ate. I slept. I went to class. I watched TV. I looked like I was awake but in fact I was sleepwalking through life with no clue how to wake up or get out. After a while, the terrible flow of days became a gray smear. (pg. 79)

Two things change everything. First, Sheldon is invited to join several other students at lunch in Room 115. There in Mr. Aiden's classroom, Sheldon feels safe. He can access a cupboard of relevant informational books and pamphlets. He can also choose to interact with a handful of students grappling with their own sexuality. Secondly, his English teacher, Mrs. Piedmont, assigns her students speeches, and Sheldon thinks about focusing on what he's going through as a possible topic. That decision will bring Sheldon both tragedy and deliverance.

I, for one, would never want to return to my high school years. Even without the aggravation of questioning your sexual orientation, teens have so much with which they must deal: puberty, body image, independence, career choices, responsibility. And not every teen has resources available to help them navigate those complicated treks. In the late 1980s, with no internet, with the AIDS crisis, and the secrecy virtually mandated by societal discrimination, the topic of bisexuality was still taboo, and kids like Sheldon would inevitably be left floundering for support. How he was able to survive, emotionally and physically, is both remarkable and gratifying. Douglas Davey, who was able to evoke that same trepidation and confusion in M in the Abstract (Red Deer Press, 2013), keeps readers repeatedly wondering how Sheldon will address his latest dilemma, or whether he will expose himself to more abuse by speaking publicly of his bisexuality, or when he will ask for the support of the school's administration or his parents. It is hard to believe the youthful Douglas Davey could present the 1980s of Sheldon's story so completely but that grey haze of being exposed to public scrutiny and discrimination is subtly exposed as a sign of the times and hopefully one that efforts have been made to rewrite.

Switch should belong in the 2015 version of Mr. Aiden's cupboard or, better yet, in high school libraries where everyone and anyone, regardless of sexual orientation, could share in the emotional turmoil of Sheldon Bates. Douglas Davey is providing us with the insight that, with greater awareness, could help us become more empathetic to those struggling with issues of sexual orientation. Let's hope we all accept Switch as that tool for learning.